[HKP]

If you were recharging through HDFC website, try other mediums like GooglePay or Paytm. The recharge might get successful.

Hope one of this works

Tried Googlepay, its not connecting to the HDFC fastag servers and giving different errors. Also tried through HDFC mobile banking-bill payment-fasttag. The error says invalid account.

I have Rs 260 in the account and have used it last Friday on ORR without any issues. Not sure if I have to cancel the trip now!

Frustrated that something like this can Impact our plans was not expected.

\\hkp

[Tgo]

Paytm remains the worst fastag provider for me.

The amount charged goes to the wallet of which only INR 300 will be reflected in the tag balance at any given time. It is one extra complication built into the system. You never know the exact amount in the tag. You never know how to recharge (keep sufficient wallet balance or recharge directly to tag using netc.<vehicle reg. no.>@paytm.

On the other hand, Equitas has been flawless.

Requested a replacement tag day before and it has been delivered today. I use netc.<vehicle reg. no.>@equitas for the recharge and it gets credited against the tag instantaneously, never in the wallet.

[jkrishnakj]

Originally Posted by HKP

Tried Googlepay, its not connecting to the HDFC fastag servers and giving different errors.

Frustrated that something like this can Impact our plans was not expected.

\\hkp

Thinking aloud here. How about:
1. Visiting a HDFC bank Fastag desk in one of the tolls and resolving this enroute

Or

2. A visit to your nearest branch for a KYC verification/activation?

That said, I’m using an ICICI one two + years and have not come across a KYC related text or call from them. Not sure if that’s coming up sometime soon.

[R2D2]

Originally Posted by HKP

Tried Googlepay, its not connecting to the HDFC fastag servers and giving different errors. Also tried through HDFC mobile banking-bill payment-fasttag. The error says invalid account. I have Rs 260 in the account and have used it last Friday on ORR without any issues. Not sure if I have to cancel the trip now! Frustrated that something like this can Impact our plans was not expected.

Please check my experiences:

tag problems (FASTag: All you need to know about procuring & using it!)

I would suggest you log into your HDFC fastag account and check the status. Invalid account or account closed means it has been blocked/blacklisted for some reason. Speak to their customer care but be prepared to wait for at least 10 days for them to sort it out.

If your tag is not active you will have to pay 2x the toll. But you can certainly travel.

[HKP]

Originally Posted by condor

tag problems (FASTag: All you need to know about procuring & using it!)

I would suggest you log into your HDFC fastag account and check the status. Invalid account or account closed means it has been blocked/blacklisted for some reason. Speak to their customer care but be prepared to wait for at least 10 days for them to sort it out.

If your tag is not active you will have to pay 2x the toll. But you can certainly travel.

Thanks, its exactly the same as I mentioned in my first post. A credit freeze, no notification, nothing! I am not ready to pay twice the amount from Hyd-blr! rather postponing the trip. They said, linking the HDFC bank account to my tag is 2 days min and it will take care of the KYC. If I go by normal resubmission of KYC, it will be 7 days as per them.

It may be possible to buy a new tag and get it activated from POS but I am not sure.

\\hkp

[R2D2]

Originally Posted by HKP

Thanks, its exactly the same as I mentioned in my first post. A credit freeze, no notification, nothing! I am not ready to pay twice the amount from Hyd-blr! rather postponing the trip. They said, linking the HDFC bank account to my tag is 2 days min and it will take care of the KYC. If I go by normal resubmission of KYC, it will be 7 days as per them.

Yes, I got no notification about the credit freeze either and had a few rude words to say to HDFC on Twitter and on the toll free #. But it's water off a duck's back it makes no difference. They make you wait. VERY frustrating!

I am also an HDFC acc. holder but though I entered my customer ID when buying the tag it still required KYC documents. So I am not sure if linking it to your account will result in this being resolved in 2 days.

It may be possible to buy a new tag and get it activated from POS but I am not sure.

You can do this and I almost did it too. A car cannot have more than 1 tag so the old one needs to be canceled which takes 2-3 working days. Remember any timeline they give you is in working days which is probably 5-6 working days a week. So you can extrapolate from that. 7 working days is 10 calender days to do a simple 5 minute check of your docs and unlock your account. They are pathetic! Luckily in my case the tag was unlocked 2-3 days before my return journey and all has been smooth sailing after that.

[condor]

Originally Posted by HKP

. They said, linking the HDFC bank account to my tag is 2 days min and it will take care of the KYC.

You would have thought about linking the accounts now, and then de-link it after your trip. And later go for regular KYC.

[androdev]

Is it just me or do others also observe that removing the cash lanes added a lot of congestion in the fastag lanes? The most painful instances are when some wanna-be VIP SUVs fighting for a toll-free passage - I felt like getting down from my car and paying their toll so they don't block the lane for some 50 bucks.

Overall, my satisfaction level with fastag has gone down big time after they made fastag mandatory. They have to come up with a harsher way to deal with lane blockers.

Originally Posted by Tgo

Paytm remains the worst fastag provider for me.

The amount charged goes to the wallet of which only INR 300 will be reflected in the tag balance at any given time. It is one extra complication built into the system. You never know the exact amount in the tag. You never know how to recharge (keep sufficient wallet balance or recharge directly to tag using netc.<vehicle reg. no.>@paytm.

Can you please explain this in more detail? I am using Paytm with multiple cars and it has been super smooth (other than getting lost in their everything-under-the-sun app).

[ashis89]

Originally Posted by androdev

Can you please explain this in more detail? I am using Paytm with multiple cars and it has been super smooth (other than getting lost in their everything-under-the-sun app).

Another happy customer of Paytm, since Nov 2019. Never faced problem with the scanning of the tag or tag balance.

Early on, there were 2-3 instances when tolls were double charged. I raised a dispute and got refund in 2-3 days easily.

Just once, I forgot the replenish my Paytm wallet after making some payments and the tag was blacklisted. I replenished the wallet and within a minute, the fastag was activated again.

Is it just me or do others also observe that removing the cash lanes added a lot of congestion in the fastag lanes? The most painful instances are when some wanna-be VIP SUVs fighting for a toll-free passage - I felt like getting down from my car and paying their toll so they don't block the lane for some 50 bucks.

Overall, my satisfaction level with fastag has gone down big time after they made fastag mandatory. They have to come up with a harsher way to deal with lane blockers.

Couldn't agree more. I shared my experience in the previous page after completing a 1500 km drive across 3 states and numerous toll plazas.

The toll plazas become a real fish market especially if they are near a town or a city. Lane discipline goes for a toss and you find a lot of motorists looking for such 'exceptions'.

For tolls far way from cities, you find long distance truckers and cars maintain lanes. Passing such tolls is usually a breeze (unless there's a technical issue with the toll machinery itself).

Originally Posted by ashis89

I drove down from Bhubaneswar to Bangalore over the past weekend. I crossed several tolls on the route and could see some difference after the Fastags have been made mandatory. Some observations from my end:

- Waiting time has reduced slightly (since my last trip 3 months ago on the same route).

- The processing time for each car is still high. Most likely the tags are to be blamed as my tag was always detected in a second while it took much longer for others.

- Many lanes are closed and not operational. If they are opened, the congestion would reduce.

- People are still paying cash. Not sure if they end up paying double or the toll guys are 'lenient on regular cars'. Some attendants direct or even force these cars to go to the fastag kiosks near the toll gate and get a tag.

- People do turn up with blacklisted tags (insufficient balance or otherwise) and argue with the attendant. Some even block the lane and charge the tag on the spot.

- In case the car is unwilling to pay double toll as fine, the attendant asks the car to return. This impacts all the cars lined up behind this 'faulty' car. Near Nellore, there was this instance where an Etios turned up without sufficient balance and then started calling up folks to recharge his tag. I was just behind him and there were 4 other cars behind me. All 5 of us had to back out, wait and enter the next empty lane. In this 15-20 mins were lost.

- People turn up with special passes, Govt. ID cards, etc. or even VIP movement. The VIP lanes are blocked or used up by normal vehicular traffic and hence, these group of vehicles are forced to go via the fastag lanes. This sometimes leads to jam, arguments and bad lane discipline.

- Even today, it takes one 'nut' to break the line and try to jump the queue. A swarm of other vehicles follow suit to create a new line

[condor]

So after all the escalations and yesterday's quiet but stern message to the escalation team person, I received a call from ICICI Fastag team. A new account has been added, and have done the payment to my CUG account. The tag should be dispatched today he said. Also received a sms message that tag number has been assigned.

Looks like I will have to recharge to my CUG account, and then setup auto recharge from the CUG account to the individual tags in my account. Will share my experiences in due time

Only bummer was the CUG top-up is a minimum of 1k.

[Saj 4x4]

Hi just wanted to share my experience .
had a pretty bad experience with Paytm --- poor response / double charge etc

Booked fast through Acko/IDFC and recd the tag in 3 days .
Recharged through Google Pay . Went through with a Rs 100 / recharge without any problems

let's hope the honeymoon continues .....

[aravind.anand]

I have three duplicate charges from a recent round trip from Chennai to Coimbatore.

ICICI had earlier sent a link to my phone, which could be used to claim for double charge claims. They message says click on Help and then support in the below link.

But upon opening the link, Help / Support are nowhere to be found! I tried every possible menu option on that link, but the options are definitely not there on the link sent to me

[Yieldway17]

Originally Posted by Tgo

Paytm remains the worst fastag provider for me.

The amount charged goes to the wallet of which only INR 300 will be reflected in the tag balance at any given time. It is one extra complication built into the system. You never know the exact amount in the tag. You never know how to recharge (keep sufficient wallet balance or recharge directly to tag using netc.<vehicle reg. no.>@paytm.

In my opinion, the best way to use Paytm Fastag is to enable auto-reload option in the Paytm wallet when it goes below a set balance. I don’t care about how much money Fastag itself has as the backing wallet will always carry balance.

I do agree that if you don’t want to use the auto-reload option, the Paytm setup is bit different from other Fastag providers and could be confusing.

[Tgo]

Originally Posted by androdev

Can you please explain this in more detail? I am using Paytm with multiple cars and it has been super smooth (other than getting lost in their everything-under-the-sun app).

Its just different from the fastags I am used to (equitas). Equitas fastag wallet is just for fastag, so no need to keep a track of the wallet balance after sundry payments. Amount from wallet doesn't automatically load into the tag when tag balance goes below 100 INR. When I recharge using UPI payee in the format netc.<vehicle reg. no.>@equitas the wallet is recharged followed by a back to back loading of the related tag of the vehicle for the same amount. So the wallet is irrelevant in my case, and I usually keep wallet balance ZERO.

Originally Posted by Yieldway17

In my opinion, the best way to use Paytm Fastag is to enable auto-reload option in the Paytm wallet when it goes below a set balance.

Will try to find and enable this option. Hope I can change the threshold amount to my liking. By default it is INR 300, I guess.

[androdev]

Originally Posted by Tgo

Its just different from the fastags I am used to (equitas). Equitas fastag wallet is just for fastag, so no need to keep a track of the wallet balance after sundry payments. Amount from wallet doesn't automatically load into the tag when tag balance goes below 100 INR. When I recharge using UPI payee in the format netc.<vehicle reg. no.>@equitas the wallet is recharged followed by a back to back loading of the related tag of the vehicle for the same amount. So the wallet is irrelevant in my case, and I usually keep wallet balance ZERO.

I installed Paytm only to buy their fastag. I bought their tags for two cars. I never have to fiddle anything related to tags, just add money to the wallet and both my cars are ready to go. I think Rs 300 is blocked as minimum balance for both tags and rest of the money is available in the wallet to be used for tolls among other things. This is exactly how I wanted it and hence opted for Paytm. Single payment and all my tags work smoothly. No glitches so far.